Egg Size, Hen Size, Breed?

[DellaMyDarling]

I've got quite a barnyard mix of full sized birds. Their eggs usually range from a large to extra large in size.
I've never weighed them, but I presume my largest hen, an Orpington, is likely a solid 8 pounds. She gives pretty brown large eggs, expected.

Google tells me most egg sizes depend upon breed and hen size.

So why does my tiniest bird, who is some white feathered creature (leghorn perhaps?) and weighs maybe 4 pounds when full, lays ginormous extra jumbo eggs?
Seriously, they don't even fit correctly in a cardboard jumbo egg container.

 

[Wezdin]

It all depends on breed, as for size it is only really judged on the age of a chicken. A young chicken will lay smaller eggs, as it gets older no matter the size it will lay the size eggs its breed lays.

 

[woodmort]

It all depends on breed, as for size it is only really judged on the age of a chicken. A young chicken will lay smaller eggs, as it gets older no matter the size it will lay the size eggs its breed lays.

Yup as chickens age, even those breeds that lay small eggs, the eggs get larger and fewer. Regardless of breed, usually the first few eggs are small--pullet eggs--and increase to regular size for that breed in 3 or 4 months of laying.

 

[el polo froggo]

They start to lay around 1 Year of age- maybe later if you have a larger breed such as the Buff Orpington.

 

[Wezdin]

They start to lay around 1 Year of age- maybe later if you have a larger breed such as the Buff Orpington.

Mabye 10 months, but not one year, at least with all the chickens i have had.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

This special bird, we call her Derps, is about 18 months. Most of my other gals are about 4.
These eggs seriously blow my mind.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Giving a bump for more thoughts, as the replies don't explain Derpy Bird's extra jumbo eggs!
Derpy is about 18months old. She's about 3.5 pounds and lays eggs that are too big to fit in jumbo egg cases.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Google is on the internet. I don't always believe everything I read on the internet. This forum is on the internet, by the way, and so am I. Just saying.....

Breeds have tendencies. If someone is not breeding to the SOP then that flock may not follow the tendencies as closely as other flocks. I generally take general discussions of breed with two grains of salt and a dash of pepper as far as looking for something absolute. I just don't think most people breeding, hatcheries or individuals, are really breeding for things like egg shell color or egg size or similar stuff. They have their own goals.

There are still breed tendencies. But the flock is made up of individuals. Each individual is different. Just because Orpington have a tendency to go broody doesn't mean each and every one will. Mine never did. If you have a large enough number of Orpington for averages to mean anything then you probably will get some broodies, especially of the breeder isn't trying to breed broodiness out of them. Leghorns have been bred to be efficient egg producers, large eggs and lots of them. They have small bodies that don't require a lot of nutrients to maintain compared to a larger bird, so they have a pretty efficient food to egg conversion rate. That does not mean that each and every leghorn will lay a lot of large eggs, some won't. Some Leghorns may even go broody if you have a large enough sample size though most won't.

I don't put a lot of faith in the size of the hen determines the size of the egg she lays. There are tendencies but there are a lot of exceptions. Leghorns are fairly small but tend to lay large eggs. Speckled Sussex are much larger but tend to lay more of a medium sized egg. For what little it is worth my hatchery SS followed the medium sized egg tendency.

Derpy Bird is an individual. Averages don't really mean anything because there is only one of her. It sounds like she might be a leghorn, if you post photos maybe someone can help you with that, if it is important to you.

How many eggs has she laid that are that size? Is it every egg she lays or just some? Have you opened them, are they double yolked or somehow weird? There are different reasons that any hen may occasionally lay a really huge egg. So if you have opened one, is there anything different inside them?

If she consistently lays these extra huge eggs and is not a duck, goose, or turkey, then there is a glitch with her internal egg making factory that produces these extra large eggs. It is not a breed thing, it is not normal but some individuals are just different.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Hmm, so you're saying Derpy continuously lives up to her name then eh? Lol.

I'll grab a pic in a bit. I'm simply taking a guess she's a Leghorn (so identification would be nice!)
She does indeed lay these super duper extra jumbos every single morning like clockwork. I'd even say the girl is my most reliable! She is unperturbed by any changes in anything, unlike some of the other gals that might decide to get thrown off a lay day. Steady and goofy she goes!
Nope, never anything unusual about the eggs other than size. Once had a shell that was really wavy lumpy, next day normalcy returned. Never a double yolk or shell.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A photo of the egg in the carton could be interesting also. Everyone I get that large is a double yolked egg.